Adjustable pay-off reel



May l0, 1960 B F, CASEY ET AL 2,936,133

ADJUSTABLE PAY-OFF REEL Filed April 18, 1956 62 l 56 E' 2,4 46 A 26 2Q 60 ,20 M131; l; MC' 1 -ILH f/O Il l l I \22 54 l- 3 28\ f 5`4 2'4 /NvE/vro/Ps.'

50 m 32 32 50 .9E/v f'. CASEY and 2' HARVEY/i. wH/TE,

United States Parent ADJUSTABLE PAY-OFF REEL Ben F. Casey, Burlington, Wis., and HarveyrR. White,

Gurnee, Ill., `assignors to United States Steel Ccrporaltion, a corporation of New Jersey .Application April 1-8, 1956, SeriallNo. 579,077

4 Claims. (Cl. 24g-4170.3)

This invention relates to an adjustable pay-off `reel and more particularly to such a reel for paying off bundles of wire. The inside and outside diameters of bundles lof wire v aryas the diameter of the wire varies. Since 'it is impractical for each department in a wire mill to have various sizes of reels to accommodate all the different sizes of bundles it has been the practice to use reels which will accommodate various sizes of bundles within a given range. Most of these reels are not adjustable so that it is necessary to make the stem portion small enough to accommodate the core of the smallest bundle to be handled. Thus a large bundle with a large core diameter will fit very loosely on the reel as a result of the excessive clearance between the core of the bundle and the stem of the reel. This results in poor pay-H, thus creating snarls and slippage of the bundle on the reel. It has been suggested to use reels having means for adjusting the diameter of the stem portions to accommodatevarious core diameters but such reels have not proved to be entirely satisfactory because of cost, difficulty of adjustment or lack of sturdiness.

It is therefore an object of our invention to provide an adjustable pay-off reel which is inexpensive, easily adjusted and rugged in construction.

This and other objects will be more apparent after referring to the following specification and attached drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the pay-off reel of our invention;

Figure 2 is an elevational view, partly in section, of the reel of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line III-III of Figure 2.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the reference numeral 2 indicates a base which may be attached to the floor in any suitable manner. The base 2 has a conical opening 4 therein for receiving the lower tapered end of a vertical shaft 6. A pin 8 passing through the shaft 6 may be provided to lock it in place. A rotatable body member 10 is mounted on the shaft 6. The member 10 consists of a central portion 12 made up of a top ring 14 and a bottom ring 16 connected by means of four bars 18 welded thereto. The body member 10 also includes a horizontal portion 20 which consists of an annular ring 22 and four radial arms 24 extending between and welded to the annular member 22 andthe ring 16. The arms 24 are preferably channel irons having their flanges extending downwardly as best shown in Figure 3. Radial slots 26 are provided in the webs of the channels 24 for a purpose which will appear later. A bearing 28 is held in place in the bottom ring 16 by means of a bearing closure 30 which is attached to the bottom of the ring 16 by cap screws 32. A thrust bearing 34 is received in the upper ring 14. The shaft 6 passes through the lower bearing 28 into the thrust bearing 34 so that the member 10 can readily rotate therearound. A gooseneck arm 38 made of extra strong pipe has a vertical portion 40 and an inclined portion 42 extending upwardly rfrom the .portion 40 above lthe ring V14. A vertical plate 44 is welded to the underside of portion 42. A U'shaped member or channel 46 is welded to the bottom of arm 38 with its anges extending down wardly. The width between `the anges of U-shaped member 46 is such that it can snugly receive the channel 24. 'I'he U-shaped member 46 `has a threaded opening 48 for receiving the threaded shaft of a hand knob 50. The shaft of the knob 50 has a shoulder 52 thereon for supporting a clamp block 54. A gusset plate 56 may be welded to and extend between member 46 and arm 38. A second `arm 58 has a U-shaped member or channel 60 welded to its lower end in `the same manner as, U- shaped member 46 .is welded to arm 38%. A gusset plate 62 may be welded to and extend ybetween arm 58 and member 60. The arm S8 is attached to channel 24 `in the same manner -as arm 38. A slot 64 is provided `in the `top of arm 58 in alignment with a similar slot 66 in collar 14. 4

The operation of my device is as follows:

The arms 38 and 58 are placed on diametrically opposite channels 24 with the U-shaped members 46 and 60 extending over the channels 24 and the plate in the slots 64 and 66. The hand knobs 50 with clamp blocks 54 resting on the shoulders 52 thereof are passed through the respective slots 26 and threaded into the openings in members 46 and 60. The arms 38 and 58 are moved to the desired radial position to receive the bundle of wires to be payed oif and the hand knobs 50 tightened to clamp the parts in place. The bundle of wire is placed over the upper part 42 of arm 38 with the upper part 42 acting as a loading horn. When a bundle having a different size core is to be handled the hand knobs 50 are loosened and the arms 38 and 58 adjusted accordingly. The reel is particularly suitable for handling heavy gage wire but it may be used with lighter gage wire in which case two additional arms resembling arm 58 may be attached to the other two channels 241.

While one embodiment of our invention has been shown and described it will be' apparent that other adaptations and modifications may be made without departing. from the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. An adjustable pay-off reel comprising a base, a shaft extending upwardly from said base, a rotatable body member, said body member including a central vertical portion for receiving said shaft and a horizontal portion attached to and extending outwardly from said central portion adjacent the bottom thereof, said horizontal portion including at least two. arm supporting members, said vertical portion having a slot in its upper surface, an arm having a vertical plate attached thereto, said plate being received in said slot, means for adjustably supporting said arm on one of said. arm supporting members, a second arm diametrically opposite said rst arm and having a slot in its upper end for receiving said plate, and means for adjustably supporting said last named arm on the other of said supporting members.

2. An adjustable pay-off reel comprising a base, a shaft extending upwardly from said base, a rotatable body member, said body member including a central vertical portion for receiving said shaft and a horizontal portion attached to and extending outwardly from said central portion adjacent the bottom thereof, said horizontal portion including at least two arm supporting members, said vertical portion having a slot in its upper surface, an arm having a vertical part and an inwardly and upwardly inclined part attached to the upper end of said vertical part, a plate attached to the underside lof said inclined part being received in said slot, means for adjustably supporting said arm on one of said arm supporting members, a second arm diametrically opposite said rst arm Vshaft extending upwardly from said base, a rotatable body member, said Ibody member including a central vertical portion for receiving said shaft, an annular member spaced from and surrounding the lower end of said shaft and four radial arm supporting members extending between and attached to said annular member and vertical portion, said vertical portion having a slot in its upper surface, an arm having a vertical part andan inwardly and upwardly inclined part attached to the upper end of said vertical part, a plate attached to the underside of said inclined part being received in said slot, means for adjustably supporting said arm on one of said arm supporting members, a second arm having a slot in its upper end, said plate being received in said last named slot, and means for adjustably supporting said last named arm on the supporting member diametrically opposite the supporting member supporting the rst named arm.

4. An adjustable pay-ofrr reel comprising a base, a shaft extending upwardly from said base, a rotatable body member, said body member including a central vertical portion for receiving said shaft and a horizontal portion attached to and extending outwardly from said central portion adjacent the bottom thereof, said horizontal portion including at least two arm supporting members, an arm, means for adjustably supporting said arm on one of said arm supporting members, a second arm diametrically opposite said first arm, means for adjustably supporting said last named arm on the other of said supporting members, said rst arm having a vertical part and an inwardly and upwardly inclined part attached to the upper end of said vertical part, said inclined part extending above and beyond said second arm, and a plate attached to the underside of said inclined part, said second arm having a slot in its upper end for receiving said plate.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 415,843 Minnick Nov. 26, 1889 1,281,802 Madill Oct. 15, 1918 2,229,796 p Carlson Ian. 28, 1941 2,707,599 Snyder May 3, 1955 

